The Oresteia of Aeschylus

Jeffrey Scott Bernstein, Tom Phillips

• Publisher: Carcanet Classics
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781784108748
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

The stories are familiar: family disharmony, mourning the loss of a loved one, vengeance, national tyranny, international war, a desire for justice. This new translation by Jeffrey Scott Bernstein, an independent scholar and novelist, preserves the artistry of the original while deploying a clear speech that directly addresses a twenty-first century temperament.

The Oresteia, first performed in Greece in 458 bce, has been celebrated as an example of the highest literary art. The murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, the bloody vengeance their son Orestes wreaks upon his mother, and the appearance of the goddess Athena to sort matters out, tells a foundation narrative of world drama. The trilogy traces a progression from personal blood feud to institutionalised justice, and in doing so celebrates, by the end, the triumph of democracy among the citizenry.

agamemnon

7

characters

Watchman

Chorus (of Elders of Argos)

Clytemnestra

Herald

Agamemnon

Cassandra

Aegisthus

[Before the house of Agamemnon in Argos.]

watchman

Gods! Grant me deliverance from this work,

A year of watching on Atreides’ roof,

Sleepily down on my arms like a dog,

Knowing well the nightly congress of stars

5 And those that bring man winter-frost and summer,

Brilliant masters dominating the sky:

Constellations rising then dying away.

And still I watch for the signalling torch,

Fire-bright oracle bringing news of Troy

10 And victory. Thus bids Clytemnestra,

Her woman’s heart strong with manly resolve.

Restless on my couch in the evening dew

No dreams visit me, for sleep yields to fear

Standing by my side, so that I dare not

15 Let my eyelids fall in unsure slumber.

And when I opt to sing or hum a tune

To offer some relief from wakefulness,

I weep for the changed fortunes of this House

Which lacks the perfect order of foretimes.

20 Perhaps tonight good luck will lift my labour:

Fire burning through the gloom, bringing glad news!

[The beacon blazes into being and is seen.]

Welcome, happy light, bringing day to night!

Shining precursor of public dances

In Argos to celebrate the event!

10

25 Ho! Ho!

Agamemnon’s Queen! May these cries rouse you

To rise up swiftly from your palace bed

And with loud proclamations of acclaim

Honour this blazing omen, for Ilion

30 Is a conquered city, as this beacon conveys.

I’ll make a beginning with my own dance

And count my lord’s lucky roll as my own,

For this signal has thrown me a triple six!

May the well-loved master of the palace

35 Return so I can clasp my hand in his!

I’m silent besides; a weight stills my tongue.

This house, if given voice, could tell a tale

Plainly. As for me, my meaning is clear

To those who know. Who knows not, hears silence.

[Watchman exits. Chorus enters.]

chorus

40 Ten years now since Priam’s powerful challengers,

Kings Menelaus and Agamemnon,

Sharing throne and sceptre by the favour of Zeus,

Firm pair guiding the house of Atreides,

Went forth from Argos with a thousand ships

45 Freighted with warriors to bear their cause.

Piercing was their furious battle cry,

As eagles keening the loss of their brood

Circle round high over their plundered nest

In anguish, wings oaring through the air,

50 Their loving work of raising chicks annulled—

Till an uppermost power, Apollo

Or Pan or Zeus, hearkens to the wailing11

Of these ramblers in his aerial re...